Refined Grains & Desserts diet 50% worse than Fast Food diet!

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50% more T2 diabetes in a group following the "Refined Grains and Desserts" dietary pattern (the highest carbohydrate consumption group) than in the followers of Fast Food dietary pattern (the highest fat consumption group) as showed in a new study on Lebanese. The latter group had in turn worse risk (four times as much) as the Traditional Lebanese dietary pattern, which had the lowest carbohydrate intake and medium fat intake (but the highest monounsaturated fat - olive oil, of all).

"Dietary patterns and odds of Type 2 diabetes in Beirut, Lebanon: a case-control study", Farah Naja et al., Nutrition & Metabolism 2012, 9:111

[added 6-Jan-2013]

Interestingly, when their correlation coefficients from Table 3 are plotted against the T2 diabetes odds ratio, it turns out that the only food related factor that has a positive strong linear trend with diabetes risk, is the dietary energy intake! See a blue line in the chart below. None of the macronutrients trended as strongly (if at all), with the T2 diabetes risk. There are only some weak non-significant trends with carbohydrates (positive, that is more carbs = more risk) and protein intake (negative, that is more protein = less risk). One can of course ask the question why exactly did the group with refined grains and desserts pattern tended also to overeat and whether that is caused by the diet itself, or is the propensity towards overeating the primary factor (caused by what?) while some particular dietary choice may be a response to that? I am not sure. I have to say, this results is somewhat surprising.

Another interesting conclusion one can draw, is that the study seems to support the mitochondrial damage hypothesis of T2 diabetes, since the energy overload is the primary trigger!

Click on this to view the spreadsheet.

The relatively low diabetes risk associated with the high meat (and eggs) and alcohol diet is also very revealing.  The Meat and Alcohol result does not really tell us what causes diabetes but it does tell us what does not cause it!

[7/01/2013]

Wheat seems to be a toxic plant!  

I think this study (alongside many others, for example China Study ) implicates wheat as the primary cause of diabetes, stronger than all the other dietary factors!  It probably acts through appetite enhancing or satiety suppressing, leading to overeating.  If true, this is a very important conclusion!   Worth probably a trillion dollars of American GDP!

Heretic